Rams to Use Their Escape Clause : Pro football: Team will notify Anaheim today of its intention to explore option of moving.

The Rams will notify the city of Anaheim today via fax that they intend to invoke the escape clause in their long-term lease for Anaheim Stadium to explore the option of moving.

The team will not give formal 15-month’s notice today, as required by the escape clause, but will provide the city with a specific date indicating when it will do so.

While declining to provide the date, sources said the team is not expected to give formal notice before April, which would allow enough time to begin play elsewhere in the fall of 1995.

Today’s notification puts outside bidders and the city of Anaheim on alert, while also buying additional time for the Rams above and beyond the required 15-month’s notice.

Formal notice will not indicate the team has definitely decided to move, but will, in effect, make the Rams a free agent without restrictions to accept all offers, including a new financial pitch from Anaheim.

Most speculation has focused on Baltimore as a likely place for the Rams to land, but the team has made no commitment to that city at this time.

In addition to Baltimore, Memphis and St. Louis lobbied hard for NFL expansion franchises recently before losing to Jacksonville and Charlotte.

The Rams have prepared a press release that will be made available as soon as the team has officially informed the city of its intentions.

The press release will indicate that the Rams reserve the right, under their present lease agreement, to revoke the 15-month notice at any time once it’s given, and remain in Anaheim.

The release will indicate the Rams’ wish to explore the economic viability of remaining in Anaheim, and will suggest that newer designed stadiums provide better revenue prospects than Anaheim Stadium.

The Rams, who finished 5-11 for a fourth consecutive losing season, averaged 45,401 fans a home game this season, their lowest total since their arrival at Anaheim Stadium in 1980.

John Shaw, Ram executive vice president, said in a recent interview: “Our gross receipts are among those at the bottom of the league, and with recent expenses and the advent of free agency, I’m just not sure how viable it is going to be (to remain in Anaheim).”

Neither Shaw nor other Ram officials were available for comment on today’s expected action.

According to The Times’ sources, the team will make it clear in today’s announcement that it will play the 1994 season in Anaheim Stadium.

Despite the problems inherent in becoming a lame duck--falling attendance, interest and revenues--insiders said the Rams do not intend to act quickly in resolving their future. In fact, Ram officials are not expected to make themselves immediately available for discussion with competing cities, thereby allowing bidders the time to evaluate each other and increase the ante.

When the Rams give formal 15-month’s notice, they will have to immediately pay more than $1 million to the city of Anaheim, and will, if they decide to move, be obligated to pay off the remaining debt on stadium improvements, which is currently estimated at $30 million.

At the moment, the Rams pay the city of Anaheim a rental fee of 60 cents per admission, not to exceed $400,000. The Rams also pay 7.5% of ticket revenue to the city of Anaheim and 20% of their luxury box revenue. The Rams receive 50% of all revenue from parking and concessions.

The Maryland Stadium Authority has said that the city of Baltimore will begin construction of a $165-million stadium in the Camden Yard area of downtown as soon as it receives a team. A $1 rent per game will be charged.

Baltimore has said it will give a team all ticket revenues, including those from luxury boxes, and all revenues from parking and concessions.

Baltimore would also provide the new tenant with the old Colts’ practice facility, but with $4.5 million in renovations.

The Rams continue to negotiate with the Magnolia School District regarding their present practice facility. The Anaheim City Council, which acts as Magnolia’s negotiator, meets next Wednesday night to decide if it will extend the Rams’ practice facility lease 15 years, while also providing a two-year escape clause.

The Rams pay $120,000 a year for the use of the Magnolia site, and claim the city has reneged on its $7-million promise to purchase or provide an upgraded facility.

If the Rams sign a letter of intent with another city to move, they will probably have to sue the NFL at the same time.

NFL guidelines require teams to win approval from three-fourths of the league’s owners before granting a team’s request to transfer. If the Rams wished to move, they would be required to submit a “statement of reasons” and then the league would conduct an investigation and offer a recommendation to its ownership.

If the Rams subject themselves to such formal procedures, they risk receiving a negative response. As protection, they would file suit before beginning the process.

The legal problems of a move such as this was typified by the Raiders’ long battle, in conjunction with the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission, to get the NFL to allow their move to Southern California. The Raiders’ victory came at the expense of years of complicated courtroom drama.

Georgia Frontiere, owner of the Rams, said in a recent interview that she would like to do anything she could to avoid becoming party to litigation. Insiders said this might be the single biggest reason why the Rams would ultimately decide to stay where they are.

The financial incentives for moving, though, are expected to increase in the coming months, as cities woo the Rams. Ram insiders do not expect the city of Anaheim to keep pace with outside bidders.

Frontiere has said she will not sell the team, but she said she has been urged strongly by Shaw, her financial adviser, to consider moving.

Frontiere was married to Carroll Rosenbloom during his tenure as owner of the Baltimore Colts. Rosenbloom, owner of the team when it won Super Bowl V on Jan. 17, 1971, traded the Colts to Robert Irsay in 1972 for ownership of the Rams. Irsay had purchased the Rams from the estate of Dan Reeves.

In 1978, a year before he died and willed the team to his widow, Georgia, Rosenbloom grew weary of the parking problems, deteriorating conditions and lack of luxury boxes in the Coliseum. On Nov. 21, 1978, five months before his death, he signed a 35-year lease with the city of Anaheim, after being promised luxury suites, an expanded stadium and a land deal that would allow the Rosenbloom heirs to develop an office complex in the parking lot of the stadium.

The office tower remains unbuilt and a source of aggravation to the Rams. The Angels sued the city in 1983 to prevent the construction of the building, and issue is pending in court.

The Anaheim City Council, reacting to rumors that the Rams might move, has met twice to discuss the situation. Council members have been eager to pledge their support of the Rams, but have suggested that the city is in no position to compete with outside bidders.

“I want the Rams here, but I’ll be damned if I’ll vote to give them half the city,” Councilman Irv Pickler said earlier. “I won’t beg them to stay.”

City officials said they have made changes in the lease five times since 1978 to accommodate the Rams. The last change came in 1990, and today returns to haunt the city.

The Rams objected to the construction of the new Anaheim Arena and threatened to hold up construction with the request for an environmental impact survey. The Rams, however, agreed to drop such a request in 1990, in exchange for an escape clause in their Anaheim Stadium lease, which was to expire in 2015.

The city agreed, although an attempt was made later, the Rams said, to renege on the deal. The Rams threatened to go to court and the city honored its promise, provided the escape clause and began construction of the Arena.